SPARTANBURG, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – A man scheduled to be executed Friday for the murder of an upstate convenience store clerk has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

Richard Moore killed James Mahoney at Nikki’s Speedy Mart in Spartanburg County in September 1999. Moore was unarmed when he went to rob the store, but he took one of Mahoney’s guns and killed him.

Moore was convicted and sentenced by an all-white jury. His defense team also raised concerns about how he was found guilty of premeditated murder when he went into the store unarmed. Amnesty International’s campaign called for Governor Henry McMaster to grant clemency to Moore.

South Carolina executes after 13-year moratorium over lack of lethal injection drugs Freddie Owens In September. Owens also killed 41-year-old Irene Graves, an upstate store clerk, during a series of robberies in 1997.

Moore had previously submitted an application. Federal lawsuit against McMasterHe said he could not be impartial in a decision regarding pardons because of his former position as state attorney general. a federal judge rejected the request to have the state’s parole board decide on pardons.

In the most recent case, Moore’s defense requested the Supreme Court to immediately stay the execution.

The request noted that the jury at Moore’s trial excluded prosecutors’ two qualified Black jurors because of their race.

Stay tuned to FOX Carolina for updates on this developing story.

Copyright 2024 WHNS. All rights reserved.